5/28/07 - Some final pictures from today. We raffled off the list to about 300 people at two drawings. People were very excited to get your work. Smartypants even had someone offer to buy one of his figures!!! /img]

Seriously???The Endor Dio frank did looks great!To all of the rest of you guys, that was the coolest fan project I've ever seen anyone pull off.Adam

Another big batch of pictures has been added into the UGP Section in our Image Database. Big thanks go out to Darth Anton for letting us have some of his pictures. Notice there are a few shots of the giveaway there, I couldn't even fit everyone into the frame there were so many of them. I was absolutely blown away by the amount of traffic we had throughout the weekend and by the turnout at the giveaways.

I want to thank everyone for participating. It was truly a pleasure to work with all of you and see all of your work in person. I'd be lying if I said this ran nice and smooth, but in the end when it mattered the most we pulled it off and made this work. It was worth it in then end and I'm glad we stuck with it. I'll be the first to admit how worried I was for a while there, but after getting this setup all of my fears vanished.

I'd like to give a very special thanks to Darth Anton. We really couldn't have done this without you. You were a machine this weekend. I think you put in more time at the booth than anyone else. Having you there to help setup on Wednesday was immensely helpful. Paul and I would have been lagging behind if you weren't there. Your ingenuity and creativity really added to the project. That frisking scene was a classic. You were a great help at the giveaway too, Paul would have been mobbed without you. It was great to finally meet you, and I look forward to seeing you again at CV!

I'd also like to thank Darth Kenobi. Tom it was very kind of you to volunteer so much of your time to look after our diorama. Considering you had very little to do with the UGP up until this weekend, I can't tell you how much we appreciated that. I wish you could have hung around a little later at the Hard Rock so we could hang out more, but it was also great meeting you as well.

Brent, it was great to meet you as well. You contributed so much to this whole project. Your trees and buildings looked fantastic and this diorama would have been incomplete without them. Considering you only made it out for the weekend it was immensely generous of you and your son to spend so much of your time at the booth. I wish circumstances had been different and you could have stayed for the whole convention. Thanks again for everything you did, it was a pleasure working with you and I look forward to doing again!

Another big thanks goes out to jedistyle. Thanks so much for all your contributions. That banner was fantastic. It sure was great to have you aboard, you should have been the project secretary from Day 1. I'd like to thank you as well for all the time you spent at the booth. And I'd really like to thank you for being there with me when we got interviewed by Spike, I'll still look like a moron, but at least there are two other people on screen to distract from that a bit. I think the girl that interviewed us is distraction enough though... she was the only reason I said yes.

And a very, very special thanks goes out to Master Phruby. Without your dedication and idea this project would have never happened. It takes serious commitment to have all of those packages at your house for the last month. I was getting sick of just seeing mine at my house... The rest of the JediDefender crew and I, would like to give you are sincerest thanks for running the project here. Should we decide on doing the UGP v2.0 you are more than welcome to bring it back here. You deserve a metal. It was great to meet you and you can count on me again next time!

And thanks to everyone else back on the homefront for your various contributions, whether they were figures, buildings, ships, or money. Everyone can pat themselves on the back for a job well done!

I'm in between meetings at work right now. But I really wanted to echo everything Ryan said. Big Props go out to everyone who helped man the booth at the show. As you can see in the photos, it was wide open and it could have been a major "loot" fest. I think the crowd was VERY respectful of the whole project but it really helped having people look after the display!

It would have been a loot fest if it wheren't for those helping watch the table. Besides, alot of people had questions. Alot of people though these were all hasbro figures. They were shocked to find out that they were all hand made. People also wanted to know how much the whole thing was worth and how much we spent on it.